Job 20: 1 - 21: 34
1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, |
2“Therefore my thoughts answer me, |
even by reason of my haste that is in me. |
3I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. |
The spirit of my understanding answers me. |
4Don’t you know this from old time, |
since man was placed on earth, |
5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, |
the joy of the godless but for a moment? |
6Though his height mount up to the heavens, |
and his head reach to the clouds, |
7yet he will perish forever like his own dung. |
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ |
8He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. |
Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. |
9The eye which saw him will see him no more, |
neither will his place see him any more. |
10His children will seek the favour of the poor. |
His hands will give back his wealth. |
11His bones are full of his youth, |
but youth will lie down with him in the dust. |
12“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, |
though he hide it under his tongue, |
13though he spare it, and will not let it go, |
but keep it still within his mouth; |
14yet his food in his bowels is turned. |
It is cobra venom within him. |
15He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. |
God will cast them out of his belly. |
16He will suck cobra venom. |
The viper’s tongue will kill him. |
17He will not look at the rivers, |
the flowing streams of honey and butter. |
18He will restore that for which he laboured, and will not swallow it down. |
He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten. |
19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. |
He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up. |
20“Because he knew no quietness within him, |
he will not save anything of that in which he delights. |
21There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, |
therefore his prosperity will not endure. |
22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. |
The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him. |
23When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. |
It will rain on him while he is eating. |
24He will flee from the iron weapon. |
The bronze arrow will strike him through. |
25He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. |
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. |
Terrors are on him. |
26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. |
An unfanned fire will devour him. |
It will consume that which is left in his tent. |
27The heavens will reveal his iniquity. |
The earth will rise up against him. |
28The increase of his house will depart. |
They will rush away in the day of his wrath. |
29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, |
the heritage appointed to him by God.” |
1Then Job answered, |
2“Listen diligently to my speech. |
Let this be your consolation. |
3Allow me, and I also will speak; |
After I have spoken, mock on. |
4As for me, is my complaint to man? |
Why shouldn’t I be impatient? |
5Look at me, and be astonished. |
Lay your hand on your mouth. |
6When I remember, I am troubled. |
Horror takes hold of my flesh. |
7“Why do the wicked live, |
become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? |
8Their child is established with them in their sight, |
their offspring before their eyes. |
9Their houses are safe from fear, |
neither is the rod of God upon them. |
10Their bulls breed without fail. |
Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry. |
11They send out their little ones like a flock. |
Their children dance. |
12They sing to the tambourine and harp, |
and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. |
13They spend their days in prosperity. |
In an instant they go down to Sheol. |
14They tell God, ‘Depart from us, |
for we don’t want to know about your ways. |
15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? |
What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’ |
16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. |
The counsel of the wicked is far from me. |
17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, |
that their calamity comes on them, |
that God distributes sorrows in his anger? |
18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, |
as chaff that the storm carries away? |
19You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ |
Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it. |
20Let his own eyes see his destruction. |
Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. |
21For what does he care for his house after him, |
when the number of his months is cut off? |
22“Shall any teach God knowledge, |
since he judges those who are high? |
23One dies in his full strength, |
being wholly at ease and quiet. |
24His pails are full of milk. |
The marrow of his bones is moistened. |
25Another dies in bitterness of soul, |
and never tastes of good. |
26They lie down alike in the dust. |
The worm covers them. |
27“Behold, I know your thoughts, |
the plans with which you would wrong me. |
28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? |
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ |
29Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? |
Don’t you know their evidences, |
30that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, |
That they are led out to the day of wrath? |
31Who will declare his way to his face? |
Who will repay him what he has done? |
32Yet he will be borne to the grave. |
Men will keep watch over the tomb. |
33The clods of the valley will be sweet to him. |
All men will draw after him, |
as there were innumerable before him. |
34So how can you comfort me with nonsense, |
because in your answers there remains only falsehood?” |
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